Acute urinary retention precipitated by ethchlorvynol overdose

A 75-year-old woman developed acute urinary retention after ingestion of 20 100 mg ethchlorvynol tablets in a suicide attempt. To the authors' knowledge acute bladder dysfunction has not been previously ascribed to ethchlorvynol, but has been described often with therapy with various psychotropic medications. The mechanism of such bladder dysfunction may be direct action on bladder muscle, or parasympathetic cholinergic blockade, but has not been clarified. The risk of acute bladder dysfunction and the possibility of underlying bladder disorder must be considered in all patients receiving sedative-hypnotic drugs, particularly the elderly.